Article: HiFiMan Jade II Electrostatic Headphone System Full Review

[esldude]

4 hours ago, gmgraves said:

Not with electrostatic Headphones it's not. The cable carries ~600 volts of polarizing voltage and you don't want a detachable cable with that kind of voltage. It could come loose while one is listening and give the listener a nasty shock. The Koss ESP925s don't have detachable cables, neither do any of the Stax ES offerings including their flagship headset, the SR-009S at more than $4000 for the headset alone!. The Sonoma ES 'phones do have a detachable cable as do the Mr. Speakers ES phones, both of which are much more expensive than the Jade IIs, but I wouldn't want either due to to the possibility of shock. BTW, neither of HiFiMan's Shangra-la models, the $50,000 set nor the $8000 set have detachable cords. Believe me, it's not an economic issue with HiFiMan (after all, their cheapest planar magnetic offerings come with detachable cords), it's a safety and liability issue that does not exist with dynamic phones. 

All it takes is a moment's thought in design.  If the headphone had protruding prongs of some sort, and the connecting cable was a female then accidentally detaching the cable leads to no nasty shock.  The headphone has no voltage source.  The cable has no exposed connectors.  You know something like the Stax extension cable design.  The headphone side has pins exposed, the powered side is always holes with no protruding metal. 

 

https://www.headamp.com/order/stax-sre-725h-extension-cable/

 

One could come up with a more compact connector, but the same ideas would suffice. 

[esldude]

6 hours ago, gmgraves said:

Well, yes, but that Stax cable is an extension cable. It doesn’t go to the head of the listener, it just extends the length of the headphone cable.

But that kind of design could safely go to the head of the user.